Eyal Goldshmid: Email messages stored collectively, not individually

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Q: To back up my email, my ISP suggested I move my "preferred emails" to an email folder created for my account. This folder, I should note, is not the same as a regular Windows folders — it's found within my email program as opposed to being in Windows proper. Now that I've done that, how do I move my email folders to a USB stick so I can back up everything myself as well?

— Clara Iglauer, Lakewood Park

A: Contrary to popular thought, email is not stored on your computer on a one-for-one basis (one email does not equal one file, for example). Rather, email is stored in a single, collective database profile that includes all your messages, folders, addresses, notes and more. Because of the complexity of that unified file, you can move only your entire collective email profile in one fell swoop, not any of its sub-components.

If using Outlook Express or Live Mail, you can do this by clicking File, then Import/Export, and work through the wizard that appears to export your email profile to a backup drive. You will be saving a .WAB file in the process.

The only way to access it after that would be to import it into Outlook Express again and view it there.

To save independent folders instead of your entire profile, you need to save each email within those desired folders as individual email files.

Use the File, Save command from within each opened message to do this. Name the messages accordingly (such as by subject), save them to a folder named with the same name as your originating folder, and then transfer those folders to the USB when everything has been saved.

This will work, but it's also tedious and — again — you will not be able to view the email messages unless they have been opened by your email program.

Alternately, to backup individual emails, you can also copy and paste your emails one by one into Word or Notepad and save them one by one that way.